The 34-year-old departed Catalunya and LaLiga in the summer
having spent his entire senior career at the Camp Nou, after the financial
disaster that Barcelona have become could no longer afford his wages or even to
register him as a new player once they had allowed his contract to run out.
Messi was among the players in the Barca squad to take a 70
per cent pay cut in 2020 as the coronavirus pandemic forced cutbacks, though
that was a temporary measure ensuring non-playing staff kept their jobs and the
club could cope with no football being played.
Before his summer departure he had already offered to take a
huge, and more permanent, reduction in salary to renew terms - 50 per cent
compared to the deal he had been on just a few weeks earlier.
Even so, Barcelona’s dire state of affairs made it an
impossible deal to agree, leading Laporta to simply hope an offer would be
there to play without payment - and the president suspects the “pressure” of
already having a big offer on the table from PSG played a part in how Messi
eventually moved.
“I know he had an enormous desire to stay, but also a lot of
pressure for the offer he had,” Laporta told RAC1.
“Everything suggests that he already had the offer from PSG.
The whole world knew that he had a big offer. We knew from Messi’s side that
they had a really good offer.
“At no time do I think about going back. I think I’m doing
the best for Barca. Nobody can put the institution at risk.
“Yes, I had the hope that at the last minute Messi would say
that he would play for free. I would have loved that and it would have
convinced me. I understand that La Liga would have accepted it. But we cannot
ask that of a player at his level.”
Since Messi’s departure - along with Antoine Griezmann,
Emerson Royal, Junior Firpo and a handful of others - the Catalan club have
struggled enormously this season.
Ronald Koeman’s side are ninth in the table and have lost
both of their Champions League games so far.
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